On 2010-06-09 16:03, uncle trav wrote:I got this behemoth from 1964 living in the basement lounge. Not conducive to the escapist vibe at all. I thought at one time of having transparencies made for it to make it fit in but now I think it's time for it to go. Almost looks like a control station in the engine room of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

I LOVE THIS!!!!! It's like something out of a disco version of Tron.

I just use an old stripped down gateway pc hooked up to a 5.1 system with small speakers. I run all my music off a 500g portable hard drive so I can easily add to my music selections. The pc is very small so that when the bar is finished I can install it and the 5.1 receiver into the bar and hang the lcd monitor on the wall as a picture frame with constantly rotating images.Add a cordless mouse to control the music and a remote to control the volume and taa-daa: low maintenance jukebox(that you can play Pac-Man and Burgertime on).
_________________"I've been ionized, but I'm okay now." - B. Banzai

“The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.” Martin Mull

Any updates on systems that were being planned/installed at the time this thread was born?

Or any other tips?

I'm planning the sound for the bar, patio and pool area now. I've got vintage gear, record players and big old timber speakers but also use mac airport and apple remote etc. I'll be looking for a system that has individual vol controls for each area (bar, patio, pool)and a 2 or 3 way source mixer to seamlessly go from record to iPod etc. would also love to have a jungle/exotica/ thunder soundtrack constantly going. And that strobe effect sounds awesome too.

I want what you want but have no idea how to get it! I'm starting from scratch, with only a pair of indoor/outdoor tiki speakers I bought off of eBay. I have a pool area, will have a bar area and I also have a hut. So I can put a receiver in either the hut or the bar and want speakers in all 3 areas. I'm thinking of getting some of those rock speakers for around the pool. And there's also the deck!

So I'm hoping we'll both get some helpful information!
_________________:-)
Lori

We connected our outdoor system to the computer so that it plays Pandora or whatever. But, we have iPhones and there is an app you'll find just searching for "Remote" that uses your Wi-Fi to control your iTunes. Doing this allows you to use your phone to change volume, playlists, songs and even access online radio through iTunes. Really a super easy cheap way to get the stereo remote control!
_________________Announcing Swank Pad and Crazy Al's Molokai Maiden!

I'm a big fan of the Logitech series of wifi music players. I have two older versions of the Squeezebox Touch installed in my house. Basically, if you can get to it on your computer, either locally or through a streaming service, you can play it through the Squeezebox. They manage your local music library via iTunes and they have great support with pretty much every streaming service and even local radio stations. They communicate to your computer via wifi, so no wires. I have one downstairs on the other side of the house and I have no problem streaming to it at all.

The Squeezebox Radios have built in speakers, but the Touch, and if you want to go big, the Transporter, connect in through your amp. They have really good remotes, but like Swanky mentioned above, there are apps from Logitech and from independent developers that allow you to control them via phone. I've had no problem controlling either unit from my phone from anywhere in the house. Logitech also makes some good remotes, which also happen to work really well with the wifi players.

Like any good engineering project, really think about how you're going to use the system before designing it. Don't skimp on the outdoor speakers (or heavy duty speaker cable). I bought some really nice outdoor speakers from Polk and they've been great through many tropical storms. For the deck, I have an amp indoors with a separate volume for A & B speakers. The B speakers go out to my deck. I also went really big with the power for the amp because you always find yourself running more cable than you first expect (and it's *more power*).

I've got my system set up to play from my computer to three separate areas in the Womb using an Airport Base station and several Airport Express stations.
I can sink it all up to play the same music or I can have different tunes playing in each area.
This works great until I have a party. As some of you can attest the parties at the Womb can get rather large and with upwards of 70 people the mass of humanity and smart phones kills the reception for the Airport Express stations.
Short of finding a wireless system that is strong enough to overcome this I may have to go back to a hard wire to have music at the parties.
My wife suggested smaller parties but that is not an option _________________Murph

My wife tried playing around with AirPort when she moved into her office downstairs and we just couldn't get it to work reliably. And I know that theoretically it shouldn't have anything to do with with, but I think that the fact that the Airport Express units plug directly into a wall socket (which is usually low and behind furniture or something) is one of the reasons for the poor connections. I'm also not a huge fan of having to connect to the stereo via the Apple mini cable. And as usual, the Apple support for products outside of the Apple universe is pretty abysmal.

But on the other hand, I have heard from people at work who only use it to stream data that the latest generation of products is much more reliable.

I chime in as someone who is a complete and unrepentant recusant on Apple anything.

At the moment -- as those of you who have suffered through the tales of my lethargic build in the "Starting!" thread may recall -- my Tiki bar is at the far end of my living room, so a sound system must pull double duty until I have a separate environment.

This is also complicated by my being both a cheapskate AND audiophile.

Given that a lot of the time, the music I have going features birds, jungle sounds, ocean surf, etc., and also given that I'm after an IMMERSIVE effect, surround-sound is the only option I considered.

Carver M1.0t stereo amps (3) (For purely "tiki bar" sounds this is MASSIVE overkill, granted)
NHT SuperZero speakers and SW2 subwoofer, all in a stainable oak veneers (For home theater purposes, replace the three "fronts" with NHT 1.1s) which is KEY in an aesthetic sense, as you can make the speakers match whatever you want.
Denon ADP-2000 decoder

I rip all the various CDs to MP3 and then use the laptop to play for social situations.

Oh, and I am a HUGE fan of "speaker tape" which is a speaker wire that rather than being cylindrical as most wires, is wide and flat, so that it can fit behind wallpaper without bulging or can be painted, etc.

I am REALLY not a fan of in-wall speakers, and the NHTs are small, "camouflageable" and sound spectacular and with, say, OmniMounts go up and out of the way and can be angled for optimal sound dispersion.

On 2010-06-07 20:50, VampiressRN wrote:Here's my sound system...reproduction, but reminds me of a HiFi my Dad gave me when I was a kid. It is a Crosley and they have good sound. Lift the lid for turn-table and CD does have repeat option, which is very handy when you are a little sloshed and forget to change the CD.

I have this one as well! I love it. The sound is not great, but it looks good

If I want to have separate volume controlled zones I presume I need a speaker mixer unit (after the amp). As well as a source mixer before the amp if I want a constant jungle / ocean noises running at same time as music.

I don't need to decide on the exact system now but I do on the outdoor speaker locations as I need to run the cables before pouring the new patio slabs...

Harro, you have many options when it comes to powering different zones. They have amps that will control a dozen or more zones! Many will also take multiple inputs, although I'm pretty sure you won't find (a cheap) one that will mix your inputs for you. Will probably have to go with a separate unit for that.

The sound-activated strobe can be found at your local DJ/musicians supply store. They are pretty common online as well.

Sounds like you are really thinking things through. That will avoid a lot of headaches in the future!
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Because it's a 5.1 speaker setup and the amps are 2 channel amps each. One amp powers the two front speakers, another the rears, and the last one the center speaker and the subwoofer. Again, this is MASSIVE overkill for a Tiki environment, but for now this area is also (at the other end, natch) where the family gathers for that home theatre experience, so...

I eventually will probably go with a pretty nice receiver (I'm thinking Denon) and this speaker system (the stainable veneer on the speakers is SUCH a great idea) for the eventual Tiki space. While a lot of people enjoy multi-zone setups, I like the simplicity of one system per area. (I can also pick up excellent performance gear on eBay for close to nothing.)

One question that everyone contemplating this issue should ask himself (or herself, I'm not choosy) is "How much fidelity do I want out of this?"

For MY case, I want the birds or waterfalls or ocean waves to sound as realistic as my budget will allow, and I want the instrumental sounds to envelop the listener.